Romans 12:12, “Be constant in prayer.”

Here, Paul exhorts the church, “Be constant in prayer.” To be constant in prayer. How is it possible? How can we be constant in prayer? 

Well, certainly, I think it would mean that, at a minimum, we should have a consistent prayer life. We should consistently have a time in which we have dedicated a portion of our day, each and every day, to focus upon prayer. This might be part of our regular private worship time in the morning. Each time in the day when we get up and come before the Lord, we dedicate some time to prayer. But it also might be at the end of the day, perhaps as you're laying your head down upon your pillow and you're reflecting upon the past day, and as you're lying there you can be praying to God. Whether it be in the morning or in the evening or at another time during the day, or even both, morning and evening, we should set aside a time to consistently, regularly be in prayer.

In addition to these regular, dedicated times of prayer, I suggest that to be constant in prayer we will need to have our hearts inclined to frequently go to God throughout the day. In every circumstance that we might encounter during the day, let us be ready and quick to speak to God in prayer; at times, perhaps even crying out to God with short, urgent prayers. I have heard some describe these prayers as arrow prayers. Brief, pointed prayers, sometimes just a single sentence or only a few words, one or two words at the most that are directed to God in time of need or in time of praise. Prayers of need such as “What shall I do? How should I respond? Grant me wisdom. Give me strength. Guard my heart. Keep me from sin. Grant me grace to endure. Enable me to obey. Help me. Protect me. Forgive me.” Or prayers of praise, “Thank you. Thank you my God, for you are good, for you are gracious, for you are merciful, for you are kind, for you are generous and you are worthy to be praised.” 

As one man put it,

To help us be constant in prayer, I think it is also important to remember why we should be constant in prayer. We should be constant in prayer because God is worthy, worthy of our praise. We should regularly be mindful of who God is, of His glory, of His majesty, of His wisdom and justice and goodness, of His love, of His grace and His mercy to us. We should praise God because of who God is. These thoughts of God should cause us to regularly and frequently be praying to God, giving praise to God.

But also, we should be constant in prayer because we are weak, helpless sinners. We should always remember how desperately, desperately needy we truly are. We need help in our spiritual battles to fight temptation to sin, to obey God's commands and to rescue us from the lies of the world, and help us to resist the devil. We need wisdom to correctly know and understand God's Word and to correctly apply it to our lives. And we need guidance in our lives in the big decisions, in the small decisions and every step that we take. We need the Lord. We need him each and every hour of every day in all that we do. And as we humbly acknowledge our desperate need, it will have us be ready to constantly be going to God in prayer.

But also, one of the reasons why we should be constant in prayer is because God is the source of our help. It is God who provides. It is God who protects. It is God who preserves. It is God alone, not ourselves, not others, it is God alone who is the source of our help. So we must turn to Him and constantly come to God in prayer.

We should be constant in prayer because God is faithful to answer our prayers. God has answered our prayers in the past and He will be faithful to answer our prayers again in the future. And even if His answer is, “No,” we can always trust that God does what He does for our best and for His glory. And therefore, we should be constant in prayer.

So, let us take advantage of this opportunity we have, this dedicated time to pray and to enter into the prayers that will be offered up by others to join into those prayers with thanksgiving. For it is a privilege for us to come to God; God who is worthy of praise; God, who is merciful and able to help us in our time of need.